BN Beauty: Wrap it Up, Keep it Safe! Want to Protect your Natural Hair during Cold Weather? Find out How

We are getting closer to Harmattan/Fall/Winter, and with all the festivities comes dry and harsh weather.

For women who love to leave their natural hair out, relaxed or not, this can be a stressful time as you have to discover new ways to keep your hair from drying out, breaking and still promote growth.

That is why BN Beauty is bringing you some great tips for keeping your hair moisturized and looking great this dry season.

Pre-Poo your hair before washingPre-poo is all about preparing your hair before it becomes wet while cleansing or washing. To do this use heavy conditioners or oils and massage in into the hair. This process promotes elasticity of the hair which would prevent breakage and give it extra moisture so you don’t strip the hair while cleansing and make de-tangling a breeze.

CleansingDuring Summer or warmer periods, naturals usually use light-based conditioners and other products to get rid of product build-up and keep the hair clean. In cold weather, these light- based products wouldn’t work as much. In this case you have to use heavier conditioners, oils etc to help keep the moisture in the hair. Unfortunately, conditioners do not have the ability to adequately remove product build-up from the hair like a shampoo, that is why you should find a sulfate -free shampoo that you can safely use.

Moisturize your endsA lot of the time we pay attention to the roots of our hair and neglect the ends of the strands. One thing we should remember is that when it comes to natural hair, the natural curl pattern or kink makes it difficult for our natural oils (sebum) to get to the ends of the hair, therefore we have to add that extra moisture. If you pay attention to the roots of the hair, that already has the sebum and neglect your ends, they will get really dry and start to break off and that could lead up to your hairs mid-section and cause more damage.

Protect, protect and protectDuring cold weathers, it is best to keep your hair in when it doesn’t need to be out. Whenever you are stepping out and want to protect your hair, apart from wearing wigs and protective styling, you can put on a silk scarf. Thankfully, scarves are very trendy during cold weathers so you can always style it to compliment your outfit.

This also applies to when you are going to bed at night. During Summer you could get away with leaving your hair out while sleeping, but not this time. Sleeping with your hair out on a cotton pillowcase will strip your hair of its natural oils and leave it dry, so instead of this, put on a silk scarf and even replace your pillowcase with a silk one and keep your moisture intact. This way you don’t have to moisturize as much, you don’t have too much product build-up and silk feels great while you’re sleeping.

Be ProactiveDon’t wait for your hair to get dry before you decide to moisturize it. Apply the necessary conditioners and oils to your hair so your hair doesn’t get to the stage when you have to rescue it.

Here are a couple of protective hairstyle inspirations that you can adopt to keep your hair safe from the impending cold weather.

Watch Liberian natural hair enthusiast, Jenel Stewart of www.KinkyCurlyCoilyMe.com on her tips on how to maintain natural hair in cold weather.

We know you would be filling very inspired so don’t forget to share what your favourite protective styling hairstyle is in the comments section. Have a great day beautiful people.

About Jennifer Obiuwevbi

Jennifer is the Beauty Editor & Style Representative of BellaNaija.com.
Get in touch - Send an email to: beauty(at)bellanaija.com or style(at)bellanaija.com | Follow us on Instagram: @bellanaijabeauty OR @bellanaijastyle | Follow us on Twitter: @bellanaijastyle

38 Comments
on BN Beauty: Wrap it Up, Keep it Safe! Want to Protect your Natural Hair during Cold Weather? Find out How

ConfuzzledNovember 18, 2013 at 1:27 pm

Love all the hairstyles on display especially #4. Makes me wish my hair wasn’t locked! Then again, the thought of all the combing and manipulation that loose natural hair wearers have to go through makes me happy with my choice 🙂 4 Years locked and loving it!!

It’s great that you are happy with your choice :-). I think
I should point out though that the combing and manipulation for
some is not as much as most think. I’ve been natural for almost 3
years now and I avoid combing. I finger detangle all the way. The
only time I ever use a comb is when I take out braids… I do love
admiring the beautifully maintained Locks. Nothing as good as
beautiful hair.

I agree with you, less manipulation is the best. However is
it impossible for many of us. I have been natural for almost four
years, and I have this extra extra thick and kinky 4C (I call it
4Z) hair that shrinks 70% when wet even though I wash my hair in
twist outs. It did get better over the years with good length, but
the only way I can detangle is with a comb (wide tooth).

I have been contemplating going natural,but my concerns are; i have a very very thick dense hair texture and also very voluminous.i remember in secondary school even tho i had low cut if i don’t comb my hair when wet i would have headache trying to comb it when dry,more-so i have a very dry scalp abi na dandruff don’t even know where to place mine it doesn’t itch but yet i get flakes.These are my major concerns.If anyone can advise me on this i would be most greatful.

Hello Nana. I’ve been in your shoes before, now my
hairstylist tells me I have soft, rubbery hair! I can reassure you
that with adequate moisturising and proper conditioning, your hair
can and will be very soft and manageable. Stay away from rat tail
combs and use combs with big teeth, if you need to comb your hair.
As for the dandruff, it may be due to a lack of moisture on the
scalp or an alkaline scalp. They say the human scalp is naturally
mildly acidic and when the pH balance is altered, you tend to have
scalp issues. I’m not an expert in natural hair care, seeiing as
I’m still learning to grow my 6month old afro and keep it healthy.
I however found the following websites useful –
africanaturalistas.com ; kinkyapothecary.com ; naturalnigerian etc.
The world is at your finger tips. I think African NAturalista is a
good place to start searching for tips. Hope BN would forgive the
plugin!

Anyone can go natural: thick or thin hair. All you need is
the willingness to go on the journey to studying and learning g
about your hair needs and maintenance techniques. There are so many
thick naturals out there. You won’t be the first. Spend time on
youtube learning from people who have similar hair textures and
density as you have. Take a plunge! Good luck to you in your
natural hair journey. X

do it will make your hair healthier i transitioned with attachment(braids) for 3months then cut the relaxed part off and just did wash n go with as i am cowash found cheap alterbative suave almond and shea($2)conditioner and coconut oil and within a year i went from lowlow hair to shoulder lenght my goal is back lenght within 3 more years then locs.

Hi Nana, I had extremely thick and hard hair back in the
days, a major concern when I decided to chop now in my old age.
However, my hair is quite the opposite now – it is still full and
thick, but not as tough. I have been wondering if it is just old
age or am I simply older and able to handle it well? Dandruff –
mine doesn’t itch but flakes as well. I have discovered that if I
steam my hair and moisturize the scalp often (I use Olive Oil
moisturizing oil), the flakes stand no chance I tell you. Hope this
helps. Dubem

Please which brand of olive oil moisturizing oil do you use? I’ve got really thick dense but painfully coarse hair and flaky scalp. No itching just very flaky. Went to the GP who prescribed ‘cocois scalp ointment’. I had to part my hair in tiny sections and apply to my scalp everyday, leave for one hour then wash off. Then after one week apply just once a week for four weeks but still leave for an hour then wash off. It worked but problem is once I stopped using it the flakiness returned. I mean I love love my thick dense hair (but not the coarseness) but I ain’t got time for applying stuff and washing off after an hour everyday. Maybe the olive oil you use would work for me.

Hi Nana, I had extremely thick and hard hair back in the days, a major concern when I decided to chop now in my old age. However, my hair is quite the opposite now – it is still full and thick, but not as tough. I have been wondering if it is just old age or am I simply older and able to handle it well? Dandruff – mine doesn’t itch but flakes as well. I have discovered that if I steam my hair and moisturize the scalp often (I use Olive Oil moisturizing oil), the flakes stand no chance I tell you. Hope this helps. Dubem

So glad that Bella Naija is running this natural hair series, literally for decades, I bought into the myth that my hair was hard and tough to manage. It was only this year that i realised that I, not my hair was the problem. I simply didn’t know how to care for it (and my ignorance was reinforced by all the derogatory language used to describe ‘black hair’). Now that I’ve learnt how to keep my hair moisturized, I use the right products and eat the right food to promote healthy hair growth, I’ve realised that my hair is just as soft and manageable as anyone else’s. It seems completely nonsensical to me now that I didn’t realize this sooner!

Beautiful. I’ve been natural since 2008 but I never preach to other to do the same. I have very strong opinions on black people and black hair, but unless I’m asked I keep it to myself. 6 of my friends have gone natural because of me (All African, 3 Nigerian) without me trying to “convince” them. They realized what you did and sought out advice from me and they all have beautiful natural hair now years later. Either you get the natural hair movement or you don’t

my tip for winter is less heat usually straighten during summer but use winter to really keep in natural texture cept special occasions like holiday. im a sole one light oil wearer(coconut oil) usually makes my life easier but in winter the coconut oil freezes in hair so will say mix it olive oil or usually liquid oil to mosturize.

great tips. also make sure you wear a satin bonnet or silk scarf under your wool hats to prevent the wool from getting caught in your hair.
One thing for sure is that your wash day will be longer then it was in the summer time.
And, just because your hair is in braids doesn’t mean you should neglect it. It still needs to be cared for while it’s been protected
themanecaptain.blogspot.ca

Please, do what works for you! Dont just jump on the bandwagon because people are doing it! Not everyone can pull off natural hair as you have to spend extra effort on your total appearance! Been there done that so…….